Mother of al-Qaida conspirator struggles with son's fate
Mar. 14, 2006
NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Don Collier*
That is how Aicha el-Wafi expressed her feelings. But she cannot be just a mother now because her son is Zacarias Moussaoui, an al-Qaida conspirator on trial in federal court in Virginia.
During a March 12 gathering at the Memorial United Methodist Church in White Plains, N.Y., el-Wafi spoke with a group of people who came to express their love and support for her as a mother experiencing great distress over the fate of her son.
As the Rev. Joseph Agne, pastor of the White Plains church, noted, "I guess everything in the world is political, but this isn't a political gathering. This is a welcoming gathering."
Those in attendance made it clear that his perception was correct. Sympathetic to her grieving and her pleading for understanding, they embraced her with their words and with their arms.
El-Wafi was staying in the area at the invitation of supporters who had promised her a quiet weekend, according to The Journal News. Some of the supporters are participants at the church. The newspaper reported that about 40 peace workers, anti-death-penalty activists and mothers from the congregation attended the meeting at the church.
Aicha el-Wafi spoke of her marriage, arranged for her at age 14, and her subsequent divorce at age 24. She was left to raise her four sons in France in an environment unsympathetic to her Muslim background and traditions. Her children were rejected because of their Islamic faith, she said, even though they were born in France.
She finds it hard, she added, to understand how and why religion should be such a dividing force in the world. Zacarias and her older son joined militant Islamic groups. She said she will be patient and pray for the eventual reunion of her family.
In addition to her agony over the fate of her son, she revealed how life changed as former friends cooled toward her after his arrest. At the same time, many have come forward to support her, even several in the United States who cannot identify themselves.
Those at the church gathering included people who had lost family members in the World Trade Center attack. They came to share their grief with el-Wafi. Embracing Connie Taylor, whose son Bradley Vadas, died in the Trade Center, el-Wafi stated, "I don't know whether my son is guilty or innocent, but I want you to know I regret your loss."
Aicha el-Wafi wanted to meet with people who had experienced loss at the World Trade Center. Six families who had experienced such loss had met with her in October 2002. Others were at the Sunday gathering, and she commented on the strange and fateful events that bring people together to reflect on what is wrong in the world.
While mothers have come forward to support her in her struggle, many fathers say they could not do what she is doing in grieving over her son, according to el-Wafi. Her reply is: "That is because you have never carried a child. A part of me is inside (the jail) with him, even though I am on the outside."
Without women in the world, all would be lost, she said. Women are very close to God in the Koran, she noted.
Recalling her earlier life, she reported that Zacarias' father was not around as he grew up, and her son longed for a father figure. He was naïve and weak and susceptible to the appeal of the Islamic extremists. Many elements, she feels, make children fragile and vulnerable, and the extremist movements take advantage of those characteristics in the young people they recruit.
Her goal is to raise awareness in people for the sake of her son. When his ordeal is over, she said, she will devote herself more to working with greater numbers of people in the cause of peace in the world.
El-Wafi returned to France on March 13 to await the outcome of her son's trial and sentencing.
Moussaoui's sentencing trial was halted March 13 when the judge ordered a hearing into witness tampering by the prosecution. Moussaoui pled guilty last year to being a conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and other U.S. targets.
*Collier is editor of The Vision, the newspaper of the United Methodist New York Annual Conference.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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